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BENTONVILLE, Ark. — After several weeks of work and 100 gallons of paint, the Momentary has unveiled Context Shift, an 11,000-square-foot mural by artist Carlos Rosales-Silva on the exterior walls of the Momentary’s parking garage, located at the corner of SE 8th St and SE G St. The mural is part of a new collaboration between the Momentary, OZ Art NWA, and Rosales-Silva. It was produced with the support of Sargent’s Daughters, which represents Rosales-Silva. 

Context Shift is a composition by Rosales-Silva that highlights a core pillar of his work: how individuals interpret color as contextual. The vibrant colors on the mural are inverted to represent how context shifts; colors in the background on one side are in the foreground on the other side of the mural. The mirroring design of the mural is meant to shift perspectives on how the design elements blend together.  

The shapes Rosales-Silva draws are abstract combinations of architecture and landscape, two forms that are often categorized in an oppositional binary. Rosales-Silva says that binary does not exist.  

“The large shapes and fields of color are disorienting, vibrational, overwhelming, and ultimately exciting,” said Rosales-Silva. “The initial idea was that the space was so big, I could get really detailed. But the more I thought about it, the bigger it was, which means you can see it from very far away. Thinking about those big, bright colors and shapes began to be exciting to me.” 

Rosales-Silva and his team of four assistants, Christine Yerie Lee, Cassidy Fritts, Edward Salas, and Armondo Rosales Rivero, worked to paint the mural for three weeks in June. Context Shift is the largest mural Rosales-Silva has painted to date. Previously, Rosales-Silva painted a 3,000-square-foot indoor mural, Pase Usted, for the San Antonio Museum of Art. 

The new mural at the Momentary, now the largest in Bentonville, continues to advance efforts to include art in everyday spaces in Northwest Arkansas. Since the initiative started, Bentonville has seen multiple installations of art across public spaces through partnerships with local organizations and establishments. Context Shift, which can be viewed from the Momentary’s Green and at 8th Street Market, is another addition to the initiative which continues to establish Bentonville as a hub for art culture. 

For more information about the mural, please visit the Momentary’s website. For information on Carlos Rosales-Silva, visit his website and follow him on Instagram @loloafterdark.  

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About Carlos Rosales-Silva

Carlos Rosales-Silva is an artist and educator from El Paso, Texas. Currently, Rosales-Silva resides in-between New York City, New York, and Texas. His work includes elements of modernist and post-modernist art and architecture derived from Indigenous practices. In his studio practice, he explores the vernacular culture of the American Southwest, the western art historical canon, and the connections and disparities between them in terms of politics and culture. He has exhibited in multiple cities, including Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and Kansas City.